How do you dump a barn full of water buckets?

[Wonders12]

I would like to start cleaning our water buckets more often, but right now, that will up our labor costs significantly since it takes ~2 hours to dump, scrub, and refill all of the buckets.

At barns I worked at before, we would just dump them out the back of the stall or the front of the barn. But that was in California where it would evaporate quickly.

What is so time consuming is having to lug every bucket out to designated spots to dump them. The spots are not far from the barn entrance, but the barn entrance may be far from the stalls you’re doing.

So please help with a very basic question. :lol:

[Gainer]

I dump my buckets into the wheelbarrow as I muck each stall. That way I’m not dragging them all over the place. I bleach the buckets twice a week in the summer and once a week in the winter. I keep a spray bottle with bleach handy and give them all a quick squirt and a swish with the brush and they’re good to go.

[buck22]

I do the wheelbarrow method too. And if the water is relatively cleanish, I dump both buckets into the wheelbarrow, and then dunk the bucket into that water and scrub it right there with a brush, then hang it back up. Keeps it from building up accumulation on the walls and rim and doesn’t waste water.

[Schatzi09]

I dump mine as needed. One horse’s bucket gets dumped and scrubbed every day as he’s a dunker. I dump mine out the back door of the barn which is away from all foot traffic. I don’t have an indoor wash rack so that’s not an option.

If you have a lot of horses, you could dump/scrub buckets for 5 - 10 horses every day until you go through the entire barn. I do that with feed buckets. I do 4 buckets each week (I have only 8 horses right now) so feed buckets are cleaned every 2 weeks.

[cai]

I don’t have any dumping suggestions, but I’ve found that using a microfiber rag to clean water buckets works so much better (& faster) than scrubbing. A few wipes and any trace of gunk is gone, buckets stay cleaner longer. I use microfiber rags for everything in the barn, but didn’t realize how awesome they are for water buckets until recently. TSC has stacks of 24 for $10 & they last forever.

[Ghazzu]

When I worked on a large TB farm, we went down the aisle while the horses ate breakfast, scrubbed out the bucket and dumped the water into a large wheelbarrow. A second person followed behind with the hose to fill buckets.
Wheelbarrow was pushed to an appropriate location to dump the water.
By the time we were done, the horses had finish breakfast and were ready to be turned out.

[dotneko]

We use auto waterers - no dumping required and saves 50,000 gallons of water a year. Just a swish for most and they are done. Saves a lot of time, too.

[BuddyRoo]

Have always had a muck bucket or similar in the back of a gator or trailer or wheelbarrow to dump water. And if you just rotate scrubs doing a few each day, you can get every one clean at least once a week.

[joiedevie99]

We dump into the wheelbarrow. Twice a week they all get moved into the wash stall, scrubbed, and rehung.

[Herbie19]

We dump ours (24 stalls, mostly two buckets, some three buckets each) everyday into a designated “water wagon”:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-Commercial-Products-7-5-cu-ft-Plastic-Yard-Cart-FG564200BLA/100344354

It’s way easier to use than a wheelbarrow, especially full of water! If I’m feeling especially ambitious I’ll use the water in the cart to water the flowerbeds. Most days we usually take a wash cloth and wipe down the buckets before we dump them–doing this really eliminates the need to scrub!

[sid]

Get Rubbermaid, foldable dolly. It’s super light weight and fold down to fit anywhere. So compact, holds up to 250 lbs (great for hauling feed bags too and has the surface area to hold 4 water buckets easily.

Just take the dolly down the aisle, put them on the dolly and roll it to the place you can scrub and refill – then and just roll them back. Saves a ton of time and carrying which is a killer, which is why I suspect so many place let the buckets get crappy.

Easy peasy. They are not inexpensive, but I’ve had mine for 20 years with 20 + stalls, that have 2 buckets each.

Makes having clean fresh water super easy…and that is my first priority for horses.

Hope this helps.

[cayuse]

When I was working, it went into the wheelbarrow as we cleaned each stall. At home I just lug the buckets to the barn 'door and give them a heave ho.

[beowulf]

Consider something other than than the labor loss, which can be staggering – but consider how improper water waste can seriously damage the structure of your barn.

Dumping water near the barn presents a myriad of issues: the constant slop/detritus (hay particles, dunking, etc) will accumulate and cause entry ways to become sloppy and wet. In the winter this will cause the ground to swell, especially a problem if your entrance is a sliding door. I can’t tell you how many barns in NE have the problem of closing their doors/muddy entry ways in the winter and it is because they didn’t think out their water management.

The best solution long term IMHO is to dump into wheel barrow while doing the stalls - shavings/pellets soak up the water and you can wheel somewhere away from the barn. No worries about damaging/rotting the barn siding, causing a treacherous pathway, ice, etc.

Or get automatic waterers.

[nu2u]

Yep another it gets a quick scrub just goes into the wheelbarrow either when stall is cleaned or you can take an empty wheelbarrow and go through the whole barn after perhaps only dumping the ones that need it.

[Wonders12]

Ugh, I would LOVE automatic waterers. But that is not in the budget anytime soon.

But wheelbarrows! And wheelbarrow like things! You are all geniuses!

We muck directly into a skid steer bucket, so I might try just dumping into that and seeing how much gets soaked up. I almost tried that today but was worried about making a soupy mess.

Off to buy some microfiber cloths and check out that Rubbermaid dolly.

[betsyk]

Rubbermaid carts - muck cart, grain cart, hay cart, etc. - work really well for this. If you leave the buckets dry all day, they somehow stay cleaner, too. Refilling them at turn in shifts the routine a little but does seem to cut down on the slime.

[chism]

Wheelbarrow, scrub and dump…easy… I’ve done it both ways, dumped into wheelbarrow full of shavings, but it makes the wheelbarrow pretty heavy, so if you’re pushing it oh…about 300 feet to the manure pile, that gets old quick…ask me how I know this. Second method, which is much better, dump into an empty wheelbarrow and dump into wash stall drain.
I know Nelsons are a wonderful invention (but very expensive to buy, plumb and install), but I’m one of those types that likes to know how much my horses are drinking, so they’re not for me.

[Zu_Zu]

Rubbermaid Wheelbarrow makes this task easy ~

Rubbermaid wheelbarrow makes this task easy ~

[Guilherme]

We put french drains under our stalls when the barn was built and we empty buckets into the stall (in a clear area so as not to wet down the bedding unnecessarily). Saves a boatload of time and effort.

G.

[sid]

I have/had Nelson auto waterers, but eventually the internal parts became corroded, so only a few are still operational. But they lasted for over 20 years. Same with all of my outdoor Nelsons. I just need to have the “guts” replaced. Not cheap either.

So I’m back to buckets. I just dump mine down the wash stall drain.